Book Chat: ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ by Matt Dinniman
Matt Dinniman is a best-selling writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the published author of dozens of short stories and a gaggle of books. In addition, his art publications — from greeting cards to stationery kits to calendars — can be found in boutique and stationery shops around the world.
It's the most-watched game show in the galaxy!
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth--from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds to all the trucks and cars--collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside, they've all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your views and your followers. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.”
Characters
Carl: He is a buff, 27-year-old U.S. Coast Guard Veteran, who worked as a Marine Technician. He has a strong sense of right and wrong. He also has “grit”, refusing to let the system break him. While not charismatic, he is the sort who will assume leadership if nobody else steps up. He is a loyal and trustworthy crawler, willing to take risks if he can help others, which engenders a great deal of loyalty from other crawlers.
Donut: She is the secondary protagonist of the book. She is a tortoiseshell Persian cat that belonged to Carl’s ex-girlfriend Beatrice and is the party leader of The Royal Court of Princess Donut. Being a cat she is rather vain caring about how things look on her and being appalled if they do not look good. Donut does not like getting dirty or being hurt so she is more comfortable fighting from a distance with her magic.
Lucia Mar: Lucia’s species allows her some unique abilities. When she is in her beautiful woman form, her magic ability is doubled, spells cost half as much to cast, but her strength is cut in half. In her skeletor form, spells cost more, but she is twice as strong.
Imani C: She is another caretaker from Meadow Lark. She is one of Carl and Donut’s oldest allies, having received their help recusing the elderly under her care. She is a healer at heart but will do whatever is necessary.
***SPOILERS BELOW***
Quotes
Carl - “What’s the point in living if I can’t live with myself?”
Carl - “Did we really just start a meth war between the goblins and the llamas?”
Donut - “Yes we did. Just like I planned.”
“Standard healing potion increases your health by at least 50%, but doesn't cure poison or other health seeping conditions such as succubus infected gonorrhea.”
Carl - “Glurp on that, motherf—r.”
THEMES
Everything is a Skill
Loyalty
Desensitization
The Other
Game Inventory
Rule Breaking
Talking Points
If Carl was woken up by a bad dream, are we playing with fate here?
Talk about world-building and establishing events that take place. Did you find you were asking questions about the event? Was the exposition/tutorial too much, or did it help make sense of it all?
A first-person narrator can mean they’re unreliable. Do we think that’s the case with Carl?
Talk about Carl & Donut’s strengths and weaknesses
If you weren’t in freezing conditions, would you still enter the dungeon?
Mordecai is the guild master/tutorial guide - is he an asset? Help not to feel too lost?
If you were to enter a video game like this, how would you really fare? Talk about the realities of this, and how difficult it would be
The enemies are just humans ‘repurposed’, is this a take on the exploitation of people?
What would your stats be:
DEX, STR, CHA, INT, CON
Carl’s: Strength: 6, Intelligence: 3, Constitution: 5, Dexterity: 5, Charisma: 4
Run into a dead body, another crawler has been killed. Carl identifying the truth of Frank Q
Carl’s backstory is hinted at and feels surprisingly character-rich for LITRPG- lousy dad, cheated on by Beatrice
Meeting another group of crawlers - an unfortunate situation with nurses and maintenance men of an aged care facility, and a homeless ‘bat’ who seems unstable. Would you feel responsible for them? What allies would you try to make, or would you seize an opportunity to ‘level up’ or survive?
The dungeon crawlers get interviewed or put on intergalactic shows like Odette’s or the Death Watch in between trying to survive the dungeon. What kind of show would you make or what questions would you ask the crawlers?
Odette’s show! We see the true reason behind the dungeon: this is entertainment
Carl has a catchphrase: GODDAMNIT DONUT!
We see how addicted to fame Donut is: Do you think this will help or hinder her and Car’s time in the dungeon?
Even Aussies made it into the AI: Dingoes! The Narrator actually did a very good impersonation, no surprise there
Agatha’s shopping cart: interesting inventory. She was edited OUT of the footage. She’s been awol level 2. Is she working for the aliens? What’s your theory
Carl struggles with having integrity in the dungeon
Whilst levelling up, we see Donut gain more sorcery/spells and Carl levels up bare fist (and foot) fighting. Can you guess what kind of class they’ll take on by level 3?
People in this dungeon have been dying too fast (due to blips and tech errors), so they’re speeding up the time in Lvl 2. The rules are awfully flexible
Punishment for urinating publicly was a Rage Elemental showing up
Limit to 3 Patrons to person, that won’t matter YET but do you think it’s important to mention?
Learn about the theme of Lvl 2: Rev Up Pyramid Scheme - complete with Karens and moonshine, enemies with the Taint
Need to find the ingredients of the smoothie to battle the boss
The history between Mordecia and Odette
Carl & Donut are so popular, they now have a publicist called Zev
Was Carls outburst to Zev warranted?
Yolanda, Armani, Chris and Brandon made a carriage/train platform to transport the elderly
Jack is a crude old man, we’re made to dislike him. He urinates and releases a Rage Demon
Zev got suspended, and allocated a new publicist who puts them on the worst show ever
We meet Maestro - and the impressionable young audience. GROSS. Carl instantly hates it.
GLURP GLURP
Lei Jun and his friend are pulled from a near-death moment to be in the show to win their way back. It’s sadistic and cruel. Carl interjects to shift gears
Next guests: Frank Q & Maggie My. We find out the dynamite he planted went off and hurt their daughter Yvette. Maggie consoles and then strangles her daughter, infuriating Carl. Maggie is fuming and Frank is broken. This is only level 2.
Maestro gifts a pair of boots to Carl, knowing it’ll hurt not help his stats
Maggie can now track crawlers
“Pork Boy”, the generated fan art sex tape video with Carl and Maestro
Neighbourhood boss is defeated easier by using kindness
Dingoes were hurt in cages, Carl feeds pet biscuits
Discover a reward room, can choose a pet! Meet Mongo, who needs to bond with a crawler asap. Donut mothers Mongo
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